Dismissed juror: Menendez trial may end in hung jury

<p>One of the jurors in the bribery trial of Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez says that it is possible the trial will end as a hung jury.</p>

News 12 Staff

Nov 9, 2017, 4:32 PM

Updated 2,353 days ago

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One of the jurors in the bribery trial of Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez says that it is possible the trial will end as a hung jury.
Evelyn Arroyo Maultsby, Juror No. 8, was dismissed from the trial Thursday because she had a previously scheduled vacation. The jury did not reach a verdict on their third full day of deliberations and an alternate juror will take Maultsby’s place.
Maultsby says that if she stayed on the jury she would have found Menendez not guilty on every count. She says that she believes Menendez’s defense attorneys that he and co-defendant Salomon Melgen were friends with no bribery conspiracy.
The prosecution alleges that the two men had a corrupt relationship over a seven-year period when Menendez came to the Senate. They say that the two men traded private plane trips and gifts in exchange for political favors.
Maultsby says that she was the strongest believer in the senator's innocence on the jury but a few others agree with her.
“I already was in the courtroom for nine weeks and in those nine weeks they presented everything they had to present. I didn’t fall asleep. I paid attention and wrote my notes,” she says. “What I saw in the courtroom was that he was not guilty of all counts and so was Dr. Melgen. They are friends…if I was rich and I had a lot of money and if I want to take my friend somewhere, why can’t I?”
Deliberations will begin again Monday.
Go HERE for an extended interview with Maultsby.


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